1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooking utensils, and more particularly to an improved skewer attachment for firmly securing food to the rotating skewer of a barbecue unit, in order to provide more efficient cooking of the food.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the art that several problems and difficulties are being encountered in providing suitable means for securing food in a positive manner to a rotatable skewer or spit member.
For many years, there have been various types of cooking spits used to secure a variety of foods in order that they may be cooked from heat generated by open fires, gas and electric ovens, and other cooking apparatuses. Possibly, the most popular cooking method utilizing skewers is barbecuing. In barbecuing, the pointed extremity of the skewer is used to pierce the opposing ends of food. The skewer may then be mounted on a holder device which remains stationary during the cooking process.
Obviously, unless someone is in attendance to rotate the skewer, the food will become overdone on its fire-facing side and underdone on the opposing side. In order to eliminate the need for manual rotation of the skewer, various devices are available which rotate the skewer automatically upon actuation of an appropriate motor. Unfortunately, with either the manual or the mechanical rotation of the skewer, when food shrinks during cooking it becomes loosened from the skewer and frequently does not rotate with the skewer. When this occurs, the food becomes overdone on the fire-facing side and underdone on the opposing side.
A variety of devices have been devised to attempt to secure food to a skewer during the barbecue cooking process, the most popular of which is the use of two multiple-pronged forks which pierce the opposing ends of the food and are attached to the skewer by means of collars, each having a radial bore in order to receive wing screws which--when tightened--secure the device to the skewer. Three major problems occur with the pronged forks. Although initially they secure some foods to the skewer when the food cooks, shrinking takes place and the prongs tend to release their hold on the food to the extent that, finally, the food--no longer secure on the skewer--does not rotate with the skewer and, alas, the same old problem (burnt on one side and underdone on the other). Another problem is the fact that anytime meat is pierced the natural juices tend to escape. The nutritional value as well as the flavor and texture thus are dissipated. Another important drawback of the pronged-fork devices is that they lack the versatility of securing many foods to a skewer because of the arrangement of the forks. For instance, any food having a diameter smaller than that of the prongs on the fork cannot be secured or it is extremely difficult to do so.
In order to alleviate the above-mentioned problems, various cage or basket-type devices have been devised--such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,741,400 and 3,812,776. Although these holding devices somewhat relieve the problem of adequately fastening food to a skewer during the cooking process, they fail to hold food securely as it shrinks during cooking. Additionally, although the above-mentioned patents have a certain degree of flexibility as to the foods they can accommodate, this flexibility is limited.